March is another positive month for jobs and unemployment numbers in Delaware.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March is down to 4.5% from 4.6% in February.
The Department of Labor’s Tom Dougherty says it continues a positive trend.
"Actually, the unemployment rate has either declined or stayed the same since March 2021 when it was 5.8%,” said Dougherty. “So we've been trending it's either been coming down or staying steady so it's kind of good news for Delaware."
As for the national unemployment rate, it was 3.6% in March down all the way from 6% in March 2021.
And in March there were only 22,600 unemployed Delawareans compared to 28,500 in March 2021.
As for local unemployment numbers, New Castle and Sussex Counties remained steady while Kent County was up .1%. Newark was up over 1.1%, but the number is still less than last year at the same time.
Wilmington was down .1% while Dover was up .2%, but it’s still an improvement from March 2021.
Meanwhile, job growth continued a positive trend increasing by 9,100 or 2.1% over March 2021, with the Leisure and Hospitality industry adding 3,400 jobs over the year, while Wholesale & Retail Trade jobs were up 2,300, and Professional Business Services up 1,200 over the last year.
But the jobs numbers aren’t all on an upward trend according to the Department of Labor’s Tom Dougherty.
"We've been kind of in that same pattern for a little while now with education and health it's down 1,900 over the year. When we say education and health it's private education, not the public school system, and the healthcare portion of that is really driving the education and health industry," said Dougherty.
Nationally, jobs during the same period have increased 4.6%.
